Powell Tempers Pivot Hopes, Says December Cut Not Assured as Nasdaq Advances and Dow Slips

U.S. stocks were mixed late Wednesday: the Nasdaq rose about 0.6% (≈+131) to ~23,959, the S&P 500 hovered flat near ~6,891, and the Dow dipped 0.2% (≈-74) to ~47,633, while the Russell 2000 fell 0.84% to 246.86. In commodities, Dec crude changed hands around $60.29 (+0.23%) and Dec gold slid to $3,950.80 (-0.81%).

The Fed lowered its benchmark by a quarter point to 3.75%–4.00% and said it will conclude balance-sheet runoff on December 1, a move designed to preserve liquidity while policy remains restrictive. Market reaction was mixed, with the S&P and DOW turning negative at the start of Chair Jerome Powell's press conference. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also dropped when Chair Powell said, "A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a forgone conclusion. Far from it." The FOMC statement described growth as “moderate,” acknowledged slower job gains and a slightly higher—though still low—jobless rate, and said inflation “remains somewhat elevated,” maintaining a data-dependent posture. The Committee also flagged that “downside risks to employment” have risen recently.

Away from monetary policy, geopolitics returned to the tape. Bloomberg and Politico reported that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are set to meet on Thursday in South Korea to finalize a cooling of tensions that could pause recent tariff rhetoric. Early indications point to targeted tariff rollbacks, potential relief on fentanyl-linked duties, and approval of a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, alongside easing on soybean purchases and rare-earth licensing—a package framed as a pragmatic truce rather than a comprehensive settlement.

Microsoft’s Azure experienced a global disruption tied to Azure Front Door beginning at 16:00 UTC, with the company deploying a “last known good” configuration and reporting signs of recovery by 19:22 UTC. Some portal extensions remain intermittent, and customer configuration changes are temporarily blocked while mitigation proceeds; full recovery is anticipated by 23:20 UTC. “Microsoft 365 services are experiencing downstream impact related to the ongoing Azure outage,” the company said on X. The status update suggested customers consider failover via Azure Traffic Manager as a stopgap, and referenced Microsoft Learn materials outlining globally resilient web-app patterns.

With Fed policy aligned mainly to expectations but potentially holding a December rate cut, and Big Tech results pending, traders appear content to mark time. QT concluded that the policy mix, gentle easing, focuses on whether earnings momentum in hyperscale and AI can extend the year-end rally without re-stoking inflation concerns.